But once these facilities are built, it falls to technicians and technologists to keep them operating.
John Leech, CEO of the Applied Science Technologists & Technicians of BC (ASTTBC), calls these careers recession-proof.
“The sustainability of these careers is significant,” Leech said.
Unfortunately, for some B.C. employers, a lack of awareness about applied science technology careers has translated into a dearth of qualified technicians and technologists in certain fields – fire protection inspectors, for example.
“Companies in Metro Vancouver today cannot find qualified fire protection technicians,” Leech said. “They’re not available.”
It is the ASTTBC’s job to certify these technicians. It’s also the professional association’s job to try to make sure there is a new crop of technologists and technicians to replace retiring baby boomers.
More than 10,000 technologists and technicians in B.C. are certified by the ASTTBC. Typically, technologists and technicians have two-year diplomas from trades institutes like the British Columbia Institute of Technology.
They work in dozens of areas, from the biomedical field and environmental sciences to waste management, mining and energy. Membership in the ASTTBC is not mandatory except for certain areas.
Local municipal governments, for example, require fire protection technicians to be ASTTBC-certified. And the province requires anyone installing or maintaining septic systems to be certified by the organization as well.
The association anticipates the demand for electrical technicians and technologists will rise with the completion of Site C dam. Should a liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry ever take off, that will also increase the demand.
Unlike with the thousands of workers in engineering and trades working on the construction phase, the technologist and technician jobs will be permanent.
“Site C is a big draw,” Leech said. “There’s a significant demand there. When you add LNG onto the list, [and] when you add the federal government’s commitments and the investments that are going to be made around infrastructure, immediately there’s a greater need for technicians.”
From an employer perspective, one of the most valuable services the ASTTBC provides is foreign credential verification.
“Employers have a tough, tough time making a determination as to where those credentials stack up,” Leech said. “They can rely on ASTTBC to do that job for them.”
The ASTTBC evaluates the regulations and education systems in various countries and provides a database that allows employers in B.C. to determine if foreign technicians and technologists meet B.C. standards.
It also provides a provisional certification for foreign workers.
“ASTTBC has world-leading instruments in place – software, career information – that will help individuals, no matter where they are in the world,” Leech said. “They will be able to go online at no cost and do a self-assessment against the Canadian standards for certification.
“So when they make the decision to move themselves and their family to Canada, they’ve got a heck of a lot better chance of success.”
India and the Philippines provide B.C.’s biggest talent pool for technologists and technicians, so the ASTTBC sent teams there to assess the educational systems and government standards for a variety of technical trades.
“We came away with a very clear understanding of their educational credentials,” Leech said.
In an attempt to bolster the domestic pool, the ASTTBC created the First Nations Careers Council (FNCC) and BC Women in Technology (BCWiT). These councils provide bursaries, scholarships and career fairs to encourage more women and First Nations members to go into applied science technology.
But there is a serious educational gap within First Nations communities, especially the more remote ones, which can be a barrier to aboriginal students getting diplomas.
Asked how successful FNCC has been in bringing young people from First Nations into technical trades, FNCC chairman Bill Baglot is blunt: “The overall numbers are staggeringly low.”
High school graduation rates in remote First Nations communities are so low that few First Nations students graduate from high school, he said, and the few who do graduate often don’t have the higher math skills they need for a career as a technologist or technician.
“So by the time the kids finish high school, those that made it through Grade 12, they don’t have any of the skills or the things they need to get into a college or tech school or a university,” Baglot said.
The FNCC has been putting a great deal of its energy into going into public schools in remote communities and trying to encourage First Nations kids at an early age to think of the possibility of technical trades.
It has also worked with a B.C. company that performs environmental testing to teach First Nations students in remote areas to become certified environmental technicians. The program allows students to learn in increments of a few weeks at a time without having to go through two-year diploma programs.
BCWiT has likewise found the movement of women into applied sciences slow going. Ten years ago, about 9% of ASTTBC’s members were women. That proportion now stands at 11%.
Like the FNCC, BCWiT works with schools and even the Girl Guides in an attempt to get girls interested in technology careers early on.
BCWiT chairwoman Heather Andreychuk said there is still a lack of awareness, not just among women, but among the general population, about the career potential in the technician and technologist fields.
“The wages are very good ... and very secure jobs, for the most part,” Andreychuk said. “When you’re into the field, you’re there, and you can work anywhere.”
